Saving the People who save Central City
by CasintheTARDISin221B
Summary: I got really bored, and my little sister mentioned that Freezeframe's superhero name sounded like something Cisco might have come up with, and then this happened, and... yeah. Hope you enjoy! (minor mention of attempted suicide in Chapter 1)
1. Chapter 1

"Barry? Barry, what's happening out there? Come, on, Barry, talk to me!" Cisco Ramone was tracking a red dot on the computer screen, a red dot moving at speeds previously thought impossible. The Flash. Right now, the red dot was stationary, at an old warehouse out by the docks, and Barry hadn't said anything in a while. Cisco was starting to worry that something had gone wrong, that Barry was hurt, or that-

"Cisco, I finished the perimeter check, I can't spot her. She's probably hiding somewhere inside. Think I should go in just yet?" Cisco breathed a soft sigh of relief as he realized he'd simply forgotten to zoom in on Barry's exact location on the map, so it had only looked like he wasn't moving. He quickly rectified his error and took a good look at the layout of the warehouse. It didn't look great, lots of smaller rooms and office cubicles for people to hide in. Still, as long as Barry was careful…

"Okay, looks like the most likely hiding place is a small office on the other side of the building. There are a lot of other rooms and dark corners, though, so keep an eye out. And be careful, Barry. We don't know exactly how her powers work, including how she affects people."

"Got it."

Cisco knew that Barry would be as careful as was possible, but he couldn't shake that lingering feeling that something was off, wrong. Still, he felt nervous like this every time Barry went up against a new metahuman. It was probably nothing, and he needed to focus on the screen. On the other hand, the last time he ignored a feeling like this… No, that wasn't going to happen again. This time he was ready, this time he had more experience. This time, nobody would get hurt.

His attention snapped back to the screen as Barry's voice came over the speakers.

"Summer? Summer West, right? Summer, I know you're scared, and I know that it feels like the end of the world, but I can help you, okay? Okay, I was affected by this thing too. Come with me, I know a place where you can be safe, where you can learn to use your powers and control them."

Cisco could hear the girl crying over the commlink. She screamed as Barry apparently took a step forward.

"Don't come near me! I'm dangerous, I don't want to hurt anyone! Stay away from me!" she started crying again. "So many people. I hurt so many people. I'm a monster. I'm a monster and I don't deserve to live." Cisco heard the unmistakable sound of a gun being cocked, and the burst of quiet static that accompanied Barry's super-speed.

"Cisco, I'm bringing her to STAR labs, she tried to kill herself! I'm about ten seconds out."

"Hurry! We don't know how her powers work, she could end up hurting herself and you."

* * *

About five seconds later, a blurred streak of red zipped into the room Cisco had dubbed the medbay, quickly coalescing into the familiar form of the Flash. The girl they had been looking for, Summer West, was about 18 years old, and she was currently sleeping almost peacefully, having simply passed out from the shock. Doctor Caitlyn Snow would have normally been here, too, but she was visiting some old friends in Star City for the week, so it was just Cisco and Barry at the lab. Cisco ran some basic scans, but that was all he knew how to do without Caitlyn. Still, she seemed to be fairly okay at the moment.

* * *

About ten minutes after that, Summer started twitching a bit, like she was having a nightmare. A soft whimper escaped her mouth, alerting Cisco to the fact that something was wrong. As the nightmare got worse, Cisco tried to wake her up, but she wouldn't respond. He could hear her talking to someone in her dream.

"No, please! Not again. I don't want to see that again. No. No, Not again! Please!" A piercing scream echoed a bit in the room as whatever was happening in her dream pushed her past her own limits, and Cisco heard another scream from somewhere in the building. Summer woke up, breathing hard and crying. "I can't even control my own dreams. I can't stop hurting people."

Well, that didn't sound good.

"What do you mean 'you can't control your dreams'? Summer?"

"I get these really weird nightmares sometimes. Except, they're not my nightmares. I've never seen the scenes in them before. And usually, right after I have one, a patient shows up in the hospital in a coma, or babbling almost incoherently about their worst memories, things they'd been suppressing for years. Things that happened in my nightmares."

"Alright, what did you see this time?"

"Not much. You were in it, but I'm pretty sure you were dead, and there was a girl. Caitlyn. And then there was… this wormhole thing, and a guy on fire, but he wasn't getting hurt. And a lot of lightning. Red lightning. And Harrison Wells. Then there was another guy… " She looked up at Cisco. "Who's Ronnie?"


	2. Chapter 2

Cisco's breath caught in his throat as he remembered that day. And exactly who these nightmares belonged to. "Summer, I need you to stay here, and I need you to stay awake. Okay? Stay awake!" She nodded, and Cisco ran out into the main control room.

"Barry! Come on, Barry, where are you?" His first instinct was to check the treadmill, and that's where he found Barry, sprawled on the floor. He checked for a pulse, and found one, but he couldn't get Barry to wake up. He carried him back to the medbay, and hooked him up to a couple scanners. Barry's vitals all seemed normal, but the scans from the EEG showed his brainwave activity skyrocketing, as if Barry were also trapped in a nightmare. Cisco had looked at the reports from the coma patients at the hospital, and they had all shown a similar pattern of activity for about two days before… Cisco almost couldn't bear to think it. About two days after each patient had been admitted to the hospital, the brainwave activity had gone almost flat, with only barely enough left functioning to keep the person alive. Personality, memories, everything that made a person unique, just gone. And nobody knew how long the patients could last before memory decay set in, erasing their lives forever.

 _It's okay. I have two days. A lot of things can happen in two days. But I don't even know where to start. I work with computers, not neurology. Caitlyn. Caitlyn studies neurology. I can call her, she'll know what to do. Yeah. I really hope she'll know what to do._

Cisco snuck another glance at Barry, lying on the cot, looking for all the world as if he were just resting after a strenuous day. No outward sign of the danger he was in. The only thing that said otherwise was the EEG monitor. He looked so peaceful, like he used to back when they had first started all this. Before almost everyone he knew betrayed him. Moments that Cisco just knew he was reliving right now.

 _Come on, Barry, hold on. Hold on just a little longer. I'm gonna fix this. We're gonna get you out of there. Just hold on._

Cisco almost didn't have to look as he dialed, he knew the number and the motions by heart. As he waited for the call to connect, every second seemed to take an hour. Suddenly, a very familiar ringtone sang out behind him. He turned slowly, hoping he was imagining things.

No such luck. Caitlyn's phone lay forgotten on her desk.

"Crap."

 **A/N**

 **Hey, guys! What do you think of the story so far? Sorry for the super-short chapter, but I really like cliffhangers. I sincerely apologize. Don't worry, the Mighty Med crew are gonna show up really soon. Please comment/review depending on which site you're reading this on. :)**

 **\- CasintheTARDISin221B**


	3. Chapter 3

Cisco walked slowly back into the 'medbay', as he'd long ago termed it, only to find Summer monitoring the EEG. She looked up as she heard him come in. "I used to work at the hospital, before... "She grimaced, probably remembering the day her life was turned upside-down. "I still remember how to work most of the machines, though. I figured since you were calling for help I could at least make myself useful." She looked sadly down at Barry. "Least I could do, after all."

"Thanks." Cisco also noticed that she had a cloth in some cool water by the side of the cot, she had been trying to bring down Barry's fever. Summer followed his gaze.

"Yeah, it didn't help much with the fever, but I figured it was worth a shot. I guess I'm not exactly used to helping superheroes. I'm more used to saving the people, rather than saving the people who save people." Summer grinned apologetically at the terrible pun, but you could practically see the lightbulb blink on over Cisco's head.

"Saving the people who save people. Of course! Summer, you're brilliant." Cisco quickly scrolled down to the M's on his contacts list, praying he'd remembered to put the number into the new phone.

"Thanks! Um... just to clarify, why was that brilliant?"

Cisco didn't hear her, already dialing. The number took a while to connect, Cisco's impatience growing with every ring.

Eventually, finally, the person on the other side of the phone picked up. "Hello?"

"Horace. Thank god, you're there. It's Cisco. Something's wrong with Barry and Caitlin's out of town and I need your help. Can you send over the ambulance? I'll explain more when we get there."

"Sure! I'll get Fred on that right away."

"Thank you!"

Cisco closed the phone and breathed a soft sigh of relief. _It's gonna be okay. Barry's going to be okay. Everything's going to be fine._

"Who was that?" Summer tentatively queried.

Cisco gave a small smile. "Someone who is used to saving the people who save people. He's an old friend, and if anyone can help Barry, he can."

* * *

If Summer was weirded out when the invisible ambulance showed up a few minutes later, she didn't show it, and she barely flinched at the guy stepping out of it. Cisco smiled in relief, moving to greet him even before his feet hit the ground.

"Fred, thank goodness you're here. That thing still doing Mach 5?"

"Ever since you did that tune up, she's been running like a dream. Guess it's a good thing, too." He added, noticing Barry lying unconscious on the cot. "What the heck happened to him? I thought the guy was, like, untouchable."

Cisco grimaced at the reminder. "It's a long story. I'll explain on the way."

"Um, " Summer interjected, "On the way to where, exactly?"

Fred glanced at Cisco as if to ask _Is it okay to_ _tell her?_

Cisco just gave her a knowing look and repeated his previous statement, then switched back to worried. "I'll explain on the way. Now come on, we have to get moving. Help me get Barry into the ambulance."

 **A/N**

 **Hey, guys, I'm back. Sorry it took me so long to get this chapter written and, as always, sorry it's so dang short. I just really, really love cliffhangers, no matter how slight. My sincerest apologies to my loyal readers. (Of course, that's always assuming that there's actually people reading this.)**

 **Thanks for reading, and the next chapter is in the works.**

 **-Cas**


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